History of the HKZBG

Submitted by Michel on Tue, 02/25/2020 - 05:51

Dear Gwulo,

I am a French gardener who took a one year break to study Ethics and ecology (master 2, at Lyon3). I was supposed to study the fire ants invasion of private gardens (spot on my field) of Hong Kong during mars to july but the coronavirus forced us to cancel this research. I have been invited to follow a plan B, which sounds as a delight : Draft an history of Hong Kong zoological and botanical garden (60 pages, in French langage). Just starting the work!

I am new to history field and new to this website, still a bit unskilful but I should learn quickly (I think). I am for now looking for relevant sources (litterature, contacts, correct admin in UK or HK, relevant societies) to start my research and am wondering if one can gently advise me here.

Very king regards to all,

Michel

Tags

What a lovely project, Michel! Here is the link to what is already on Gwulo about HKZBG https://gwulo.com/node/2916#19/22.26402/114.16286/Map_by_ESRI-Markers/1…

 "Old Hong Kong" by Colonial can be downloaded from Gwulo. In "Where to find Hong Kong's history" in the lefthand margin, you can also find the link to the Hong Kong Government Reports which have a separate botanical section and may trace the devolopment of the gardens from year to year, among other things. You will probably find the sums of money allocated to it there + thefts, donations and typhoon damage.

I'm sure that David and others will have lots more advice.

Good luck!

 

Jill has given you some good resources.

Today the gardens are managed by the LCSD (Leisure & Cultural Services Department), so you could also contact them to see if they have prepared any history of the gardens, see 
https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/parks/hkzbg/contact.html 
and https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/contactus.html

You could also contact the Hong Kong Gardening Society to see if they have any relevant information: https://www.hkgardeningsociety.org/contact.html

We'll be interested to learn what you uncover, so please add comments at https://gwulo.com/node/2916 with any interesting discoveries.

Regards, David

Thanks a lot David !

I have met with HKZBG's staff early this week, despite the coronavirus and the restrictions in place in the gardens, more specially the old section (the mammal section). Very nice people ! They offered me a lot of sites (unfortunately in cantonese), good advises and good words. The garden is preparing for its 150years old birthday (next year). I hope to be able to comtribute to the party, and, definetly, to your site as well. Fingers crossed.

Kind regards,

Michel

 

The section of "old HongKong by colonial" dedicated to "botanical gardens" (page 57 to 66) : Old HongKong by Colonial volume  A-C

One scientific paper with some good reference on HK parks here : The contigency and opportunity : the first century of HK public parks.

Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch : History of HKZBG